One could argue that Eric Schmidt of Google is living in denial about the "fragmentation" of Android, but he also makes some persuasive arguments to the contrary. He recently came forward at CES indicating that there isn't really a problem of fragmentation on Android. He claims that the platform instead offers customer-friendly "differentiation." He sees differentiation as a positive and fragmentation as a negative, and elaborated that if there were fragmentation then apps would be far more broken across the differing versions of Android, and different third party skins of Android.

He further shared, “Differentiation means that you have a choice and the people who are making the phones, they’re going to compete on their view of innovation. They’re going to try and convince you that theirs is better than somebody else.” He added, “We absolutely allow [manufacturers] to add or change the user interface as long as they don’t break the apps.” Schmidt concluded with, “What people really care about is if there’s an interoperable ecosystem of apps” instead of every device having the same UI.

In fact, you can see Google somewhat working to balance this with Ice Cream Sandwich. Any device that manufacturers want to have ICS, and still be able to get Android Market access, must support the Holo theme. While this is a slight tightening of controls, it merely means that Holo must be available to any apps that call upon it, and that manufacturers won’t be able to release devices that solely offer their own theme and not Google’s default in order to still gain access to the Android Market.

On an interesting side-note, Mr. Schmidt took some time to share his views on all the Apple lawsuits and injunctions against Samsung, and a little about Windows Phone. Here were his comments, "Apple works very hard to block choice in Germany by trying to prevent Samsung tablets [from becoming] available. That's called prevention of choice." He made the argument that consumers should instead be able to judge all products fairly; "it's called competition." In regards to Windows Phone he said, "Microsoft's trapped in an architectural transition problem they may not get through."

One could argue that Eric Schmidt of Google is living in denial about the "fragmentation" of Android, but he also makes some persuasive arguments to the contrary. He recently came forward at CES indicating that there isn't really a problem of fragmentation on Android. He claims that the platform instead offers customer-friendly "differentiation." He sees differentiation as a positive and fragmentation as a negative, and elaborated that if there were fragmentation then apps would be far more broken across the differing versions of Android, and different third party skins of Android.

He further shared, Differentiation means that you have a choice and the people who are making the phones, theyre going to compete on their view of innovation. Theyre going to try and convince you that theirs is better than somebody else. He added, We absolutely allow [manufacturers] to add or change the user interface as long as they dont break the apps. Schmidt concluded with, What people really care about is if theres an interoperable ecosystem of apps instead of every device having the same UI.

In fact, you can see Google somewhat working to balance this with Ice Cream Sandwich. Any device that manufacturers want to have ICS, and still be able to get Android Market access, must support the Holo theme. While this is a slight tightening of controls, it merely means that Holo must be available to any apps that call upon it, and that manufacturers wont be able to release devices that solely offer their own theme and not Googles default in order to still gain access to the Android Market.

On an interesting side-note, Mr. Schmidt took some time to share his views on all the Apple lawsuits and injunctions against Samsung, and a little about Windows Phone. Here were his comments, "Apple works very hard to block choice in Germany by trying to prevent Samsung tablets [from becoming] available. That's called prevention of choice." He made the argument that consumers should instead be able to judge all products fairly; "it's called competition." In regards to Windows Phone he said, "Microsoft's trapped in an architectural transition problem they may not get through."

Haha well what else would he say? They've gone from denying it exists to now saying its a positive. Tell that to the people still waiting for ICS or in some cases GB haha....fragmentation goes beyond just different UIs...

Schmidt is not clueless, he is a shady businessman and will say only positive things about his business. We all know fragmentation is a BIG problem, you aren't pulling the wool over anyones eyes Schmidt. No device should be below Gingerbread at this point, manufacturers should offer updates past 6 months...blah blah...fragmentation is REAL! I can't wait for the next big OS (it's not iOS) to come along and knock Schmidt off his high horse.

Schmidt is not clueless, he is a shady businessman and will say only positive things about his business. We all know fragmentation is a BIG problem, you aren't pulling the wool over anyones eyes Schmidt. No device should be below Gingerbread at this point, manufacturers should offer updates past 6 months...blah blah...fragmentation is REAL! I can't wait for the next big OS (it's not iOS) to come along and knock Schmidt off his high horse.

Nice picture by the way, goes great with the article:biggrin:

Click to expand...

Thanks. I thought the picture fit his "unique" perspective on this subject as well. I did like what he had to say regarding the Apple lawsuits. His comments were not surprising, but still interesting.

Schmidt is not clueless, he is a shady businessman and will say only positive things about his business. We all know fragmentation is a BIG problem, you aren't pulling the wool over anyones eyes Schmidt. No device should be below Gingerbread at this point, manufacturers should offer updates past 6 months...blah blah...fragmentation is REAL! I can't wait for the next big OS (it's not iOS) to come along and knock Schmidt off his high horse.

Nice picture by the way, goes great with the article:biggrin:

Click to expand...

No, we don't all know fragmentation is a problem. I'd challenge you to cite some examples.

No, we don't all know fragmentation is a problem. I'd challenge you to cite some examples.

Click to expand...

-Certain apps not working on certain phones. For example my Bionic is very capable, but certain apps are not "compatible" with my device. Phones systems are fragmented.
-A lot phones are still stuck on 2.2 with no update in site.
-Phones can be released half finished because the set of Android standards from Google is low
-Carriers can force skins and bloat onto devices even if the manufacturer may not want them there
...there are more I am sure.

Schmidt is not clueless, he is a shady businessman and will say only positive things about his business. We all know fragmentation is a BIG problem, you aren't pulling the wool over anyones eyes Schmidt. No device should be below Gingerbread at this point, manufacturers should offer updates past 6 months...blah blah...fragmentation is REAL! I can't wait for the next big OS (it's not iOS) to come along and knock Schmidt off his high horse.

Nice picture by the way, goes great with the article:biggrin:

Click to expand...

My work-issued Droid Titanium (less than 8 months old) on Sprint (I know) runs Eclair. I'm hoping for Froyo on that piece of crap. It's hard to step down and use it when my personal device is a RAXR.

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